The present invention relates to a machine for packing cigarettes in hard, flip-top packets. Of known types of the above machine, one comprises a wrapping wheel, assembled so as to turn round an essentially horizontal axis and designed to receive, one after the other, at an input or loading station, die-cut pieces and, at the same time, preformed groups of cigarettes usually consisting of twenty cigarettes wrapped in silver foil. Each of the said die-cut pieces is fed by the wrapping wheel through a series of folding stations where the die-cut piece is gradually folded round the group of cigarettes garettes to form an outer case having the shape of a parallelepipedon provided with larger front and back parallel faces and smaller parallel side faces.
The last folding operation each die-cut piece is subjected to consists in bending two side tabs, which define an outer layer of said smaller side faces, when the packet is unloaded radially, with its front face first, off the folding wheel through a calibrated opening.
On the above known machine, the packets coming off the folding wheel are sent to an output unit comprising a first so-called "reject" wheel, a second so-called "drying" wheel and an output conveyor. The said reject and drying wheels are assembled so as to turn round vertical axes and arranged with one partially overlapping the other so that the packets can be transferred from one to the other moving parallel to the said rotation axes. On the above known packing machine, the reject wheel is arranged tangent to the said folding wheel, slightly below the drying wheel, and comprises a drum turning between two fixed axial plates for defining axially a number of radial cavities on the said drum, each of the said cavities being designed to accommodate a packet loaded by a device, which unloads each finished packet radially off the folding wheel through the aforementioned calibrated opening, and with its smaller side faces arranged horizontally; then rotates the packet by 90.degree. about a vertical axis, and finally pushes the packet, with a top or a bottom face first, into a respective cavity of the drying wheel. Each packet is, therefore, finally arranged within the respective cavity of the drying wheel with its larger front and back faces in contact with the lateral side faces of the respective cavity, and with its smaller side faces facing the top and the bottom axial plate respectively. The bottom axial plate has an opening through which faulty packets are unloaded by an axial push mechanism, whereas the top axial plate has an opening for transferring the packets axially to the drying wheel. Obviously, in view of the said opening in the bottom plate, the packets being fed forward by the reject wheel are not supported by the bottom plate but by friction between the front and rear faces of each packet and the side faces of the relative cavity. Consequently, the sides of each packet, which are the last to be folded and stuck when leaving the folding wheel, are in no way held down by contact with the said top and bottom plates. On the contrary, they are pushed outwards by the pressure applied on the front and rear face of each packet. In addition to this drawback, the overlapping arrangement of the reject and drying wheels prevents easy access to the parts transferring the packets axially and arranged between the said two wheels. Finally, the horizontal arrangement of the drying wheel, the function of which is to ensure thorough drying of the glue used on the folding wheel for joining the overlapping parts on the die-cut piece, involves the use of a bottom axial plate on the drying wheel for supporting the packets. The said plate, being provided with an axial opening for axial input of the packets fed off the reject wheel, is fixed at an angle, so that the packets are forced to slide forward over the bottom plate with the risk of being damaged.